The main legal point established is that the service of a muster-roll employee should be considered for pension entitlement, in line with Rule 14 of the Central Civil Services Pension Rules and the socio-economic justice principles in the Directive Principles of State Policy.

ORDER/JUDGMENT – Ms. Sadhana Pathak, learned counsel for the petitioner(s).

Mr. Himanshu Joshi, learned counsel for the respondent – Union of India.

2. Regard being had to the similitude in the controversy involved in the present cases, the writ petitions were analogously heard and by a common order, they are being disposed of by this Court. Facts of Writ Petition No. 8398/2013 are narrated hereunder.

3. The petitioner before this Court, who is a retired employee, has filed this present writ petition being aggrieved by the order dated 9-12-2005 passed by the Pay and Accounts Officer, by which it has been held that he is not entitled for grant of pension.

4. The contention of the petitioner is that he was initially appointed as a Muster Roll Employee in the Central Public Works Department of the Government of India on 5-6-1979 and continued without break in service upto 30-6-1990. Another undisputed fact is that he was appointed as a muster-roll employee, his services were regularised on 1-7-1981 and later on he was absorbed in the services of Airport Authority of India w.e.f. 30-6-1990. The contention of the petitioner is that he is entitled for pension by taking into account the services rendered by him as a muster-roll employee even though he has been absorbed with the Airport Authority of India. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon Rule 14 of the Central Civil Services Pension Rules and heavy reliance has been placed upon the Office Memorandum dated 14-5-1968 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance. The same reads as under :

(1) Benefit of service rendered under Government in respect of scientific employees- See paragraphs 20 to 24 of Appendix 18.

(2) Counting half of the service paid from contingencies with regular service. – Under Article 368 of the CSRs (Rule 14) periods of service paid from contingencies do not count as qualifying service for pension. In some cases, employees paid from contingencies are employed in types of work requiring services of whole-time workers and are paid on monthly rates of pay or daily rates computed and paid on monthly basis and on being found fit brought on to regular establishment. The question whether in such cases service paid from contingencies should be allowed to count for pension and if so, to what extent has been considered in the National Council and in pursuance of the recommendation of the Council, it has been decided that half the service paid from contingencies will be allowed to count towards pension at the time of absorption in regular employment subject to the following conditions, viz. : –

(a) Service paid from contingencies should have been in a job involving whole-time employment (and not part-time for a portion of the day). (b) Service paid from contingencies should be in a type of work or job for which regular posts could have been sanctioned, e.g., malis, chowkidars, khalasis, etc. (c) The service should have been one for which the payment is made either on monthly or daily rates computed and paid on a monthly basis and which though not analogous to the regular scale of pay should bear some relation in the matter of pay to those being paid for similar jobs being performed by staffs in regular establishments. (d) The service paid from contingencies should have been continuous and followed by absorption in regular employment without a break. (e) Subject to the above conditions being fulfilled, the weightage for past service paid from contingencies will be limited to the period after 1st January, 1961, for which authentic records of service may be available.

[G.I., M.F., O.M. No. F. 12 (1)-E. V/68, dated the 14th May, 1968.]

It has been decided that half the service paid from contingencies will be allowed to be counted for the purpose of terminal gratuity as admissible under the CCS (TS) Rules, 1965, where the staff paid from contingencies is subsequently appointed on regular basis. The benefit will be subject to the conditions laid